Dick Smith said: The document states “Safety is the highest priority in aviation”-
This is not true. If it was true for airspace we would have Class B everywhere.
Some years ago I went to a CASA sponsored safety lecture by Tony Kern. He mocked the organisations & companies who use the slogan "safety first, saying that if safety was really the paramount consideration, then we'd all stay in bed. Instewad he suggests that getting the job done is the primary objective. But that we should do it in the safetst, owest risk manner. This seems emminantly more sensible.
James Reasons in his books also publishes a graph of safety vs regulation, suggresting at ones gets to a point where increasing regulation diminishishes safety. Where is that pijnt? Look behind us, not in front.